Google+ DOs and DON’Ts for Hotel Marketers

With 540 million users on Google+, it’s never been more important to use it as a marketing platform to reach and engage with your guests online, especially considering 17% of people use Google + as a source of travel inspiration.

Google+ is an exciting social media platform that has a remarkably large user base. If your hotel hasn’t already made a Google+ page, your hotel should consider making one as it is another great way to connect with travel shoppers to tell your story. Hotel pages on Google+ have received great reception thus far, as some hotels have reached over 3 million Google+ page views.

Understand the ins-and-outs of Google+ and how it can help you market your hotel’s story across a large and vast social network with our DOs and DON’Ts of Google+.

DOs:

Do include a captivating cover photo. A cover photo is the first thing travel shoppers are going to see on your Google+ page. Make sure to select a photo that will impress travel shoppers and to select a photo that travel shoppers want to see. The Mercure London Kensington Hotel does an excellent job of this, using a guest bedroom as their cover photo, which is the number one image travel shoppers like to see when searching for hotels online.

Do select a profile picture that is consistent with your hotelbrand. Many hotels use their logos, which is something easily recognizable, as their profile photo on social media sites like .Google+.

Do post engaging content. Photos on Google+ receive the best engagement overall. Over half the posts on Google+ are photos, and they also receive the most feedback (+1s, comments, and reshares) amongst all content posted on Google+. There’s no better way to tell your hotel’s story than with rich visual content, as 93% of people say visuals are the most influential factor in their purchasing decisions. Incorporate photos encompassing all aspects of your hotel’s story including but not limited to guest rooms, dining facilities, lobbies, business centres, and even exciting local attractions!

Do make your photos into a brochure. By categorizing your photos into albums, you can present different hotel amenities in a brochure-like fashion. By categorizing the albums, you can show off the numerous storytelling features of your hotel to travel shoppers. By including separate albums for rooms & suites, dining areas, business centres and more, The Best Western Plus Rockville Hotel & Suite’s shows off the aspects of their hotel’s story.

DON’Ts:

Don’t base your success on your followers. Google+ followers are not an accurate representation of how well your page is doing, as travel shoppers may just be browsing through your page and looking at your updates to grasp your hotel’s story. The Google+ pages include a total views widget that tells you how many views your page has received. It’s important to realize that followers don’t just mean viewers. To get your hotel story shared across the web, you want real engagement, not just views.

Don’t just post about your hotel. Make sure the hotel story you’re sharing on social media includes more than just the features of your hotel but goes further and includes all the local attractions and fun events guests can look forward to. Sharing content like this will help create a better story for travel shoppers, because it invites them into your hotel’s exciting local surroundings.Don’t just post text. Out of all the content shared on Google+, text only is posted the least and is not a promising method of receiving reshares, in comparison to other content on Google+.Don’t create and abandon your page. Make sure that when you create your Google+ page that you don’t leave it in the dust after creation. It’s just like any other social media platform: the more you post, the better the story you present to travel shoppers. When a travel shopper sees a page that hasn’t been updated, you don’t represent a fresh and appealing story to them.

Where to Go From Here:

Google+ has some clear cut benefits to hotel marketers and offers great features to help enhance your hotel’s story. Be sure to take advantage of all of Google+’s great storytelling features, so you can wow travel shoppers today!